bassnation
the abyss
dominic said:early 80s references, italo/electro, coldness, distance, irony -- all done for
if thats all there is to electro then i'd agree with you - but theres loads of inventive electro coming out of europe and the uk in particular which is total grinding dancefloor gear, nothing like the kind of boringly studied retro 80's thing. (manayst gets a special mention for his unbelievably heavy sound, i've interviewed him here: http://www.throw-uk.com/second/manayst.html)
a lot of grime & ukg tunes sound like sparse electro beats to me. the first tune that really brought this home to me was so solid "haters" funnily enough. that tune is total electro.
besides that, you've also got the really fast psychedelic detroit electro stuff, drexciya and the kind of artists on databass - as raw as it gets - total street music which of course led on to the ghetto house and booty scenes.
as far as i'm concerned this music is still essential. much rather listen to that than house music, rhythimically its miles apart.